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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Sharon Kenney <sharon@mainemountedsar.org>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] MSAR in Maine
  • Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:31:37 -0400

Maine Mounted SAR is currently the only MSAR unit in Maine.  We respond Statewide, sometimes resulting in 1-way travel times of 4+ hours.  We've been around since 2001 but not utilized much until recently.

As background / context, the Maine Warden Service is the main agency that manages most SAR incidents in Maine.  The Warden in charge of the incident makes one phone call to the current Duty Officer for the Maine Association for Search And Rescue (MASAR), and that DO calls out all the SAR resources that the Warden has asked for.  For the first 9 years the unit existed, we had less than 10 members and got maybe an average of 4 calls a year.

The turning point began when our horses proved themselves at a statewide mock search that was held by and the Maine Warden Service about 3 years ago.  Our horses found a casualty that the dog teams were supposed to find but didn't, which really impressed the Wardens and other SAR teams.  We have been invited to give an educational presentation for the last two years at the annual statewide MASAR training, and next year we are hosting that training.

Right about the same time, we also created a new brand for our unit, including a new logo, website, facebook page, and printed flyer.  Soon we'll also have business cards with generic unit contact info, because we never seem to have flyers in our pockets when we need them!

Again, right about the same time, several of our members became more active at the MASAR level, giving us an "in" to help educate the MASAR Duty Officers on how to advocate for our services when the Wardens call for resources.  They know now to ASK whether the terrain is appropriate for horses to be used.

The combination of the horses' performance at the mock search, the new professional brand image, and our higher participation within the MASAR organization, have all contributed to greatly increasing our membership (17 now, and growing every month) and the number of callouts we receive (~10 on average annually). 

To answer the initial question, our meetings and training events are listed on our website via a feed from our Google Calendar, and I do also try to post them on our Facebook page with enough notice that anyone who is interested can plan to attend.  It can be a little hard to keep up sometimes though.

--
Sharon Kenney
207-951-0526 (C) | 207-581-1078 (W) | 207-285-1064 (H)
Maine Mounted Search And Rescue (MMSAR) - Secretary & Duty Officer
     www.mainemountedsar.org  |  www.facebook.com/mainemountedsar
Maine Association for Search And Rescue (MASAR) - Resource Director & Duty Officer
     www.mainesearchandrescue.org


  • [MSAR] MSAR in Maine, Sharon Kenney, 08/13/2013

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